Well this is a pleasant surprise. I do hope that more will follow soon... *hint hint*

_________________"A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that'." - Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane." - Philip K. Dick, VALIS

Sat Jul 01, 2017 4:11 pm

Krulle

Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 2:14 amPosts: 512

Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 02/07/2017)

Wow.

Sooo many things happening.It also took me surprusingly long to read it (too busy).

Thanks for sharing. I'll try to read again the next days, but on this device I won't do corrections (I saw some which looked like voice-to-text issues).

I have had this discussion before in 'Looking forward to the Mirror', so I will make it short and sweet:

Throughout my studies I haven't seen anything to show that women are as capable warfighters as men or that they even DESIRE to be warfighters in the same way men do; nevermind society's expectations from both sexes.

That doesn't mean that women are incapable of fighting; they are capable of some auxiliary duties. However if one fields women in the same front line way they do men then that only means that they are idiots or that they are scrapping the bottom of the barrel for more manpower.

I have had this discussion before in 'Looking forward to the Mirror', so I will make it short and sweet:

Throughout my studies I haven't seen anything to show that women are as capable warfighters as men or that they even DESIRE to be warfighters in the same way men do; nevermind society's expectations from both sexes.

That doesn't mean that women are incapable of fighting; they are capable of some auxiliary duties. However if one fields women in the same front line way they do men then that only means that they are idiots or that they are scrapping the bottom of the barrel for more manpower.

So there you have it, satisfied?

Yevgeniya Zhigulenko, Night Witch and Hero of the Soviet Union would have liked to take you on a trip in her plane into German airspace , just to see how long you endured before brown trouser moment.

The transition this time was noticeably longer but still far shorter than the first one, this time the force brought them inside a large room whose walls were made by tree trunks meticulously placed onto each other in order to form the four vertical walls and the roof above them.

“A wooden house?” Tozet Beryl asked as they all took everything in, the room was eerily empty and lit only with a pair of large standing torches.

“Indeed.” The alien replied while looking at the lone figure that was sitting in a meditative stance between the two torches, the same orange haired female they had seen before.

“What are we going to witness here?” Stillstorm asked after a few moments of idleness.

“Greetings…” The odd sending took all four of them by surprise, it felt like it came both from far away and from the exact same room; even the Senator was momentarily shocked and his mind betrayed his expectation for it. “It has now been 1536 tozons since we settled on Deinar and wiped out the Mezerot…” It was the orange haired human, she was the one sending to them; the sending was odd but it betrayed her perfectly focused mind that put all its effort in it. “It was a hard decision to take but a necessary one. We who brought you here fully believed that this world offered the most to you and as thus we saw it right to claim it for you. The Soian ecosystem here has already proved itself as a resilient one, I knew what would happen but it was harsh for me to witness it even once. I am now certain that you will be able to thrive here if you manage to overcome yourselves. The others chose differently, one group chose Perrein because they fully believed that the planet itself would be your test, the others chose Taben because its oceanic nature would both limit your numbers and not allow for you to starve provided that you developed accordingly. Both were valid arguments but we thought that your very nature was in need of temperance and only this world would allow for that temperance to be brought forth by having you pitted against each other. This world is the only one on which you could truly let yourselves loose, it holds little to no danger to you and will be able to recover itself when…” Her mind lost focus, bringing the sending into an abrupt end. The four of them looked at each other for a single moment before turning their full attention to the alien.

“How? You said that we can’t sense a sending from the past.” Parat Tempo pointed out first.

“Normal sendings which are sent to someone on one’s present, what she is doing is vastly different and far more taxing. She is sending forward to recipients who she would never meet."

“Is that even possible?”

“You received it didn’t you?”

“My apologies…” The odd sending begun again. “I am…a…Tempest. That’s how our first sons and daughters described us once they could do so. That’s what our minds were to them as we taught them what we could in order for them to become our instruments of vengeance. A decision we have regretted… deeply…” The sending ceased again as the blue human female who called herself ‘A Tempest’ became visibly agitated for a few moments.

“My apologies again… this is not easy… I should perhaps have started from the very beginning… It should be obvious to you that have now reached me that I am not one of your kind. I am neither a Porei nor a Loroi if the new name you chose for yourselves was the one which prevailed in the end. I am an alien, from a world about 300 light tozons coreward from Deinar. My kind has long ceased to exist; the Soians exterminated us like they did several others who didn’t fit in their plan. I and the few others who still remain have come to terms with this fact and we have already taken our vengeance thanks to our children, your ancestors. I sent that we have deeply regretted that decision. We sought to hurt those who hurt us and we did so by giving birth and raising those who would be capable of doing just that. Our children, the Porei, vengeance made manifest. Great sacrifices were made but in the end you succeeded in what we thought impossible from the very beginning. Yet we regretted it, not because of what happened in our behest but because of the deep and nearly irreparable damage that was inflicted upon you.” Stillstorm became momentarily confused at that but the sending didn’t allow her enough time to think about it. “The Mizol, your wicked sisters, were what the Soians created to our original image. They were a loyal but very docile, nearly inert, creation; unimaginative and without a desire to live life to its fullest. Physically they were nearly identical to you but mentally? They were very much like machines; they felt but their feeling run only deep enough for them to fulfill their purpose. Your ancestors often joked that a Mizol was capable to only feel fear and terror and that only after they were done with them.” It was then that something entered Stillstorm’s mind, no it entered all of their minds, it was a collection of very clear memories of… several Porei making that joke in her… no… Tempest’s presence?

“Yes she will be sending certain parts of her memories to you.” The alien explained as time froze around them. “We missed them at first and you would miss it too if we hadn’t made certain that you would be able to properly receive them.” Time resumed again and the sending of… Tempest continued.

“You were their complete antithesis, holding an indomitable will and an unquenchable thirst to live life to the fullest. We ruined your minds by filling them with hatred, the very hatred that ended up being your very purpose for living. Even the callous Soians weren’t as cruel as us in the purpose they assigned to each and every one of their creations. Should you feel disgust and shame on how your ancestors acted in pursuing our vengeance then know that the blame for everything done falls on us, the ones who birthed them and raised them with nothing but hatred and harshness. We knew of your potential, the promise of magnificence was within each and every one of you and therein lays our regret. In our squandering of that promise you held. This may hurt your pride, your ancestors were certainly proud in their fighting abilities.” Another collection of memories rushed in Stillstorm’s mind, pleasant memories of witnessing proud warrior display their potential. “But our sole wish is for you to be more than just fighters. We wish for you to find your own path, away from our influence and what we had your ancestors do. Perhaps you would be able to do just that on your own if you didn’t have parts of our abilities. The others, the aliens who have yet to ascend will never understand how intertwined we all are and how what we do in life echoes in eternity. I don’t mean just in being able to witness the past but through the… collective soul each and every one of us shares. Non ascendants can’t really affect it to such a degree but you can and your collective is dangerous. Even after death one’s hatred will echo in the collective and it will affect other eons later, again and again until it is quenched. The hatred we instilled in our sons and daughters is affecting them and will be affecting you for millennia. I hope that you who receive this sending have managed to overcome it, your minds were always strong and bright, more than enough to heal yourselves from the curse we inflicted upon you.” The human female, Tempest, paused at that.

“What does she mean with that? Our collective souls that each and every one of us shares?” Parat Tempo asked before Stillstorm could.

“The telepathic networks that you form on your societal level, there is a reason as to why your males constantly monitor them.” The alien explained.

“Our networks are not able to do such things and certain castes of our brightest males monitor the networks to ensure that they are stable, not to contain… hatred.” Parat Tempo pointed out.

“No matter how much you convince yourselves of these lies they aren’t going to become the truth. Your males know of the sickness within your kind and they do their best to alleviate it with the means available to them.” The alien replied. “They do have their fun in doing so but they are taking care of your kind’s well-being in their own way.”

“I know that it will take time.” The human female sent again. “Far more time than I am ready to live for. This hatred runs deep and strong. Making you ready and willing to strike at each other over any perceived wrong or personal flaw.” More memories flashed in their minds, these one filled with sorrow as they bore witness to dozens of bloody brawls, feuds and murders. “This hatred combined with your thirst for life will bring you a harsh future, a future that you will survive only if you are as strong as I believe you are.” She paused again and sighed before continuing. “This is the first of my sendings to you who I will never meet, in the hopes that you have managed to overcome your trials and learned how to reach back to your past. I will send more, as many as I need to in order for you to receive everything I know. Unfortunately I only ever managed to learn the basic theories on how Soian technology worked, enough so we could operate their machinery, perhaps they will still be of some use to you. You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t managed to master your abilities and although it is possible, I don’t think that you have managed to reach me without mastering certain technologies of theirs. No matter your situation all I can ask of you is to not be ashamed of the vengeance that your ancestors carried in our name. The crimes committed are ours, not yours. Ours was the hatred and ours are the sins. You were young and innocent; that’s why we took those we could with us and run away at the height of the last battle. Our hatred had consumed them; they lived only to kill and didn’t care for anything else.” The memories that accompanied this sending were different, they were of the despaired panic of the… Tempests as they, argued and struggled against and even killed some of their insane daughters in order for some of them to survive. “They were no longer living; they were beasts that sought only death. We took those we could by force and coercion and gave you a future.” The sending paused again but only for a moment. “My second sending will be tomorrow when the sun is at its highest in the sky.” With that the human female stood up, casually stretched herself and walked outside.

“Do you understand now Parat Tempo?” The alien broadcasted but the Mizol didn’t reply for several solons.

“Understand what?” Tozet Beryl asked when she couldn’t take the silence any longer.

“Is this what you meant? With your sick game when we first met?”

“Yes.”

“We are not the same thing.” The Mizol snapped back angrily.

“You are not? Really?” The alien sent with obvious amusement.

“Yes, they were born and lived their whole lives fighting a war. Raised with hatred and living with it. That doesn’t mean that we are bound to end up the same as they did. We are sapient, not mere animals driven only by emotion and instinct. Whatever our progenitors and even you may believe; we Loroi act on our own accord, not as a result of the influence that they had over us in the past!”

“Then how can you explain how all three of your sister worlds came to the exact same conclusions as to how Loroi society should function? All other sapient races form a plethora of different societal forms and different ways of governance and we humans are no different in that regard but you Loroi, your societies are all the same stratocratic caste based systems and these systems formed on three vastly different planets. All sapient societies form in order to limit infighting but you are an extreme aberration, so hateful and self-obsessed that large groupings of your kind couldn’t cooperate before the establishment of your castes. Only this harsh and cruel caste system allowed you to advance and only this system is able to keep you in line. And even with these systems in place you still are just like a domesticated predator that is only a couple of generations away from going fully feral again.” The alien turned his attention to Beryl and Stillstorm would swear that she felt a tinge of remorse for expressing himself in front of the Listel in such a way. “Thankfully there is hope for your kind, there do exist warriors that break certain patterns. Perhaps they may help you find ways to cooperate without the need to violently coerce each other.” He paused for a few solons before turning his full attention back to Stillstorm. “Do you understand now, Lashret?”

“Did they really intend to die with the Soians? To die fighting just for death’s shake?” She managed to ask.

“Yes they were.”

“They weren’t warriors then.”

“I never described them as such.” The alien pointed out. “They were vengeance made manifest and you are their offspring. You would have met warriors such as them if the war had continued for a couple of decades more. Warriors so consumed by hatred that they would rather die than stop killing.” He sent and paused for a few moments, looking at Stillstorm as if studying her. “If our females and you have only one thing in common then that would be the selfless love most of you have for your offspring. That love gave your kind a second chance at life and three worlds to thrive on; that same love is why we are here, giving your kind your third chance at life because you would have lost the war without human intervention.”

“Then why are you threatening us with extinction?” Stillstorm angrily pointed out the hypocrisy in his line of thinking.

“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”

“Then what do you mean? With us killing for the wrong reasons?” Parat Tempo asked.

“We humans used to think that only one’s actions mattered to make proper judgment of one’s character, this way of thinking proved itself insufficient as one’s intentions are as important as their actions in order to truly judge individuals, collectives and even entire races. You Loroi are a species born of hatred that has forced a harsh social system on itself to bring forth a semblance of order. In the grand scheme of things everything that you kind has done from when the very first castes were formed on all three of the sister worlds had a singular purpose and that purpose was control. Self-control at first; control over others later on.” His sending easily betrayed the fact that he found the former admirable but loathed the later. “You seek to control everything around you, all in order to bring forth a new ‘galactic order’ just like the inheritors of the Soians ought to do. Those who fought against your pursuit of this order? The lucky ones were subjugated with little to no chance of bettering their position throughout the eons. Those unlucky got a genocide that was only used to solidify your control over others. We would have never bothered you had you just exterminated the Mannadi to the last, settled their worlds and never spoke of them again; that’s the natural order of life itself. But you built the Union on their corpses, a tool of control for the ‘true inheritors’ to bring forth another era of galactic order that would last for all eternity; able to overcome all challenges, whether internal or external. A hollow order of things, that will be built and fueled by the corpses of all those who oppose you. Just like the Soians maintained their own order of things.”

“I don’t understand, moments ago you said that we are filled with hatred and we are dangerous because of it and now you are chastising us for the Union that was created in order to bring forth lasting peace and mutual prosperity?” Parat Tempo pointed out.

“Yes, I didn’t expect you to understand as you are now. In fact I wouldn’t understand when I was still 'locked'. The issue is how you will act the moment your kind truly Ascends like we did. All signs point to you becoming a far more murderous version of the Soians, one that will take pleasure in punishing all those who opposed you. You may point out that your kind isn’t the same as it used to be but we observed you when you massacred both the Mannadi and the Tithric. We saw the enjoyment many warriors had in their minds when they slaughtered the Mannadi, we saw the attempts of your males to bring forth a sense of shame for those acts in order to protect you only for those attempts to fail miserably and bring forth the Tithric genocide.” The alien looked at Stillstorm for a few moments as her mind brought forth the memories she held when she took part in the Tithric campaign. It was true that many warriors enjoyed wiping out whole continents from orbit, far too many of them. “Both of them were fools that would eventually die due to their foolishness. The Mannadi were fools for not realizing their position as the vanquished, the Tithric were fools for never realizing what was going on around them and how the actions of the few affect the whole. You Loroi, you are not fools; never were and never will be, not to that level at least. You are just hypocrites. Had you killed just for sport and enjoyment you would be murderous hedonists, had you killed just for material gain you would be callous pragmatists. You killed for enjoyment; you killed for gain and most of all, you killed for control. Your kind’s claims of the peace and mutual prosperity that the Union supposedly brings? They are all lies brought forth by the ruthless hypocrisy that is engraved in you. I have to congratulate you, I never thought that we humans would ever be rivaled in hypocrisy.”

“We are not liars and we are not hypocrites!” Stillstorm finally shouted angrily.

“Not on the personal level but you are on the greater societal one.” He laughed after finding a perverse source of amusement at that. “Such a mental disconnect from the personal to the societal is extremely rare, in fact of those you know only the Shells have a disconnect of such magnitude. So humble and unassuming on the personal, yet they are aggressive dominators who must be above all on the societal.”

“We don’t have anything in common with the Shells!” Stillstorm shouted again.

“Keep telling yourself that, it will never change who and what you are.” He replied smugly. “Now it’s time for you to witness the end of a Legend.”

Last edited by dragoongfa on Sun Dec 03, 2017 12:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:57 pm

dragoongfa

Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:00 pmPosts: 1175Location: Athens, Greece

Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 25/11/2017)

I will only say this has been on hiatus only because I am a lazy git that couldn't be arsed to copy the manuscript. The story's manuscript is finished and the only issue is time and laziness. Hopefully I will post everything before the end of the year.

The warrior then tilted her head slightly as the club seemingly swung itself against the bleeding Barsam, it’s armor realigning itself to take the hit only to liveleave other areas exposed for the knife to stab and cut with a supernatural speed before the armor could protect its wearer.

[...]

“Indeed. Of the more than four billion Soians aboard at the time of the first revolt more than half perished from the repeated combined shouts of the human males that were cast throughout it. In turn several key administration and industrial centers were damaged and destroyed in the ensuing fighting. The loss of life and the damage inflicted were enough for the Soians to temporary retire the Dreadstar from its official duties so it could be repair itself. About ten million Soians were left aboard to facilitate the repairs with the rest scattered on the seven remaining Dreadstars that now had to fill the gap that was left. It was estimated that the repairs would require several centuries and would require the full remaining industrial output of the Dreadstar before it could resume its duties, the Porei managed to high jackhijack(simply wrong word use, see http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hijack - it is one word, not two separate words) it when the repairs were about three quarters done.”

“How did the Porei high jackedhijack it? It would require a whole fleet and hundreds of thousands of boarders.” Stillstorm asked.

[...]

“We are on Derro by the way. The Porei gave a very simple ultimatum to the Neridi. They would surrendedsurrender every last Mizol on their world or they would suffer their fate. As you can see some Neridi actively disagreed and reaped their just dues.” The alien sent.

[...]

“They did fight; in fact the brutal savagery of the ravagers forced them into martial action for the first time in one hundred millennia. All severseven Dreadstars were to gather and coalesce into a unified force in order to find, overwhelm and destroy the rogue Dreadstar, the problem laid with their peace time positioning. Four Dreadstars were spread out throughout the up arm territories, the other three down arm. This positioning, combined with the delaying actions of the ravager fleets would mean that the Porei would have freedom of movement at least for a few nanapis until that force became cohesive.” The alien replied.

[...]

“No, understand that outour females don’t have the natural grit and mindset required for fighting in such a scale. The few who did have what was needed had always been the product of harsh people and harsh times.” He replied. “You can take pride that your ancestors were the force that brought down a major tech level 16 empire and they did so in less than a century from when the first of them drew breath.”

[...]

Suddenly the pristine Dreadstar seemed to implode for a single moment before it exploded violently, sending continent sized debris rushing out to the void with the gigantic shockwave that followed. The Porei Dreadstar and the fleets that still fought bore it without issue but it was obvious that the system they were in would be ruined once the shockwave and the debris runran its course.

“You were their complete antithesis, holding an indomitable will and an unquenchable thirst to live life to the fullest. We ruined your minds by filling them with hatred, the very hatred that ended up being your very purpose for living. Even the callous Soians weren’t as cruel as us in the purpose they assigned to each and every one of their creations. Should you feel disgust and shame on how your ancestors acted in pursuing our vengeance then know that the blame for everything done falls on us, the ones who birthed them and raised them with nothing but hatred and harshness. We knew of your potential, the promise of magnificence was within each and every one of you and therein lays our regret. In our squandering of that promise you held. This may hurt your pride, your ancestors were certainly proud in their fighting abilities.” Another collection of memories rushed in Stillstorm’s mind, pleasant memories of witnessing proud warrior display their potential. “But our sole wish is for you to be more than just fighters. We wish for you to find your own path, away from our influence and what we had your ancestors do. Perhaps you would be able to do just that on your own if you didn’t have parts of our abilities. The others, the aliens who have yet to ascend will never understand how intertwined we all are and how what we do in life echoes in eternity. I don’t mean just in being able to witness the past but through the… collective soul each and every one of us shares. Non ascendants can’t really affect it to such a degree but you can and your collective is dangerous. Even after death one’s hatred will echo in the collective and it will affect others eons later, again and again until it is quenched. The hatred we instilled in our sons and daughters is affecting them and will be affecting you for millennia. I hope that you who receive this sending have managed to overcome it, your minds were always strong and bright, more than enough to heal yourselves from the curse we inflicted upon you.” The human female, Tempest, paused at that.

[...]

“We humans used to think that only one’s actions mattered to make proper judgment of one’s character, this way of thinking proved itself insufficient as one’s intentions are as important as their actions in order to truly judge individuals, collectives and even entire races. You Loroi are a species born of hatred that has forced a harsh social system on itself to bring forth a semblance of order. In the grand scheme of things everything that your kind has done from when the very first castes were formed on all three of the sister worlds had a singular purpose and that purpose was control. Self-control at first; control over others later on.” His sending easily betrayed the fact that he found the former admirable but loathed the latter. “You seek to control everything around you, all in order to bring forth a new ‘galactic order’ just like the inheritors of the Soians ought to do. Those who fought against your pursuit of this order? The lucky ones were subjugated with little to no chance of bettering their position throughout the eons. Those unlucky got a genocide that was only used to solidify your control over others. We would have never bothered you had you just exterminated the Mannadi to the last, settled their worlds and never spoke of them again; that’s the natural order of life itself. But you built the Union on their corpses, a tool of control for the ‘true inheritors’ to bring forth another era of galactic order that would last for all eternity; able to overcome all challenges, whether internal or external. A hollow order of things, that will be built and fueled by the corpses of all those who oppose you. Just like the Soians maintained their own order of things.”

[...]

Good read. Thank you. Looking forward for the next part, and the end of the Legend.

They found themselves into a forest for the second time but this one was familiar, they were on Deinar again, Fireblade was certain of that; the others realizing this simple fact just a moment after she did. The blue human female and a Loroi male were nearby, she was gathering various herbs, fruits and various vegetables in a large basket while the male held a crude stone age spear and seemed to be on guard.

“What are they doing?” The Lashret asked.

“Food for honored guests, banquets and religious offerings must be gathered by female hand or be killed by the weapon of a male hunter.” Beryl reminded them as they all stared at the ridiculous sight of a Loroi male standing guard over a female, one whose abilities actually were the stuff of Legend.

“In her last sending to the future she will mention that someone in the village reminds her of a long dead son.” The alien senator commented, his mind fully guarded for some reason. Perhaps they were about to witness something he found extremely disturbing.

Suddenly the male turned his attention at their direction and brought his spear at a ready position, for a moment Fireblade wondered if he had somehow sensed them but she immediately realized that his attention was drawn from something behind them. All four of them turned and saw a large miros walking about 60 or so paces away from them.

They turned their attention back to the male who had already begun levitating telekinetically, bringing himself just below the tree branches before slowly making his way above the unsuspecting miros. Without making a single sound he positioned himself above the miros and aimed his spear carefully before allowing himself to fall onto his prey. The spear piercing the animal’s neck in an instant with the impact of the male’s body bringing it to its knees in the instant before it died.

“It’s weird to witness a hunting male.” The mizol commented as the blue human female walked up to him and just patted him on the head with a smile before the two of them gathered their respective harvest and kill to make their way back home.“Tell me Listel Tozet? How well versed are you with Deinar’s minor legends?” He broadcasted.“I know only a handful; the legends and their interpretations are the field of the all male Nedatan preservers, not of the Listel warrior caste.” The Listel replied and he nodded in understanding.“I would appreciate it if you don’t inform the others if you happen to realize in which legends the events we are about to witness are recalled.” He broadcasted again before the force took them for an almost instantaneous trip.

This time they found themselves amidst a seemingly empty village made out of wooden houses that were built in the same way like the one they were in just earlier. The blue human was there, standing alone in front of a cruse table on which various food stuffs were meticulously placed.

She was standing there, waiting for someone with a calm, seemingly serene expression. After a few moments 16 warriors appeared from a distant corner, dressed with leather rags, brandishing crude spears and with some short of knife holster worn at their waists. The advanced materials the holsters and the knives were made of were in complete contrast to everything else on them.

Fireblade sensed Beryl as she realized something but the Listel immediately suppressed the thought, composing herself in an instant. The warriors wearily approached the lone human who just smiled at them as they looked around, obviously waiting for an ambush that never materialized. Studying them from up close it was easy for Fireblade to realize how malnourished their bodies and how tattered their leather clothing were; the sight was just painfully pitiful.

The warriors stopped a dozen paces away from the human female, all sixteen of them standing there in silence for several solons before one of them walked up to her. They couldn’t sense their exchange but the warriors agitation was easy to see, the human female just standing there, staring at the warrior and the others behind her with a seemingly aloof demeanor towards the warrior and what she was agitated about. She turned her back at them and pointed at the table but the warrior was onto her with blinding speed, drawing her ceramic knife from its sheath, stabbing the human with a shrilly shout as the others moved in with their own knives drawn, stubbing, slashing and yelling at the human for several solons before stopping; leaving only a barely recognizable bloody corpse at their feet. All sixteen of them didn’t waste a single moment after that, immediately rushing to the table to gorge themselves with the food that was there.“Why?” The Listel asked after a few moments.“Why they killed her or why she didn’t fight back?” The alien replied. “Or both?” The Listel just stood there and nodded at the last, ignoring the alien’s own agitation to what they just witnessed.

“You Loroi live extremely long lives when compared with the natural human lifespan; in fact natural unassisted humans can’t reach Lashret Stillstorm’s age, to be sincere humans of ages gone by would mistake your longevity for nigh immortality." He explained as he looked at the bloody corpse in front of them. "She was biologically immortal, having lived for millennia through several Loroi generations. All that time filled with all the devastation, pain, suffering and extensive loss that your kind can bring forth. The true question one has to ask is why the majority of them didn’t just take their own lives after all that time.” He continued as he stared blankly at the 16 who were eating without any care towards the one they just murdered. “She didn’t fight back because she had long decided to accept her death after having finished sending her last gift to you. She wasn’t the only one who believed that you had to find your own path, most of them were like that; with only a few trying to guide and lead you but they all failed. Their actions giving birth to different legends than the ones this murder gave birth to.” He explained before realizing something. “Which legend came to you when you realized what was going to happen?”

“The cowardly city of the lying warrior.” The Listel begun. “The Legend speaks of a great city that stood against all enemies no matter the numbers and warriors pitted against it. The city was rich, powerful and was the envy of everyone as it was protected by a great warrior who could beat any and all foes effortlessly. One day the city was besieged by a truly mighty army and sixteen warriors were sent to challenge the city’s own champion. They found the city abandoned, with only the champion waiting for them in front of a table of tribute. The warrior asked her where everyone was, the champion replying that all the others had fled. The warriors were angered by such cowardice and challenged the champion to battle to save her city’s honor. The champion denied them saying that she was never a warrior. The leading warrior was angered by such an obvious lie and pointed out how the city stood for so long and with such a champion if she wasn’t a warrior. The champion just called her and all the others who thought like that fools before turning her back at them. The sixteen warrior then stroked down the lying champion, took the tribute and torched the city so the cowards would not have a place to return to.” The Listel recalled.

“And that was how her murder was passed along by those who killed her.” He began. “A village that housed about a couple of thousand Loroi would certainly look like an opulent city to the horde of starving Loroi that reached it in desperation at the height of a recession cycle. The so called champion was a ‘Tempest’ who protected the village for as long as she needed to finish her last gift to her children. The tribute was food for those who starved; the cowards were those who knew that they would not be protected anymore and elected to flee. The warriors who killed her ended up believing that she had somehow tricked all those before them; that the stories about her and the city’s strength were all falsehoods born of cowardice. How else could they with such limited perception explain all this?”“You made it clear that this wasn’t the only legend about her murder…” The Listel commented after a few solons of thinking.

“Indeed, this isn’t the only legend of this one’s murder. An other, less known legend, is among those who speak about the great nameless warriors who forsake their duties because of a male. You have plenty of these legends but one particular variant speaks of a great warrior, a peerless protector and a bulwark again all. One day she became infatuated with a male who had the powers of a warrior. The spent their time together, hunting and conversing about all things. She was happy with him, he was strong and with a sharp mind but he was still a male with a male’s idealist thinking. She foolishly believed to his false ideals of peace and understanding. She decided to act on these ideals and elected to parlay with their enemies. The two of them prepared gifts for them and she alone waited for them. Her people however knew that this was foolish and fled before the parlay took place because they knew that without her they would never win against their foes. There was no parley, the once mighty warrior was just murdered, the gifts taken as trophies and her people’s homes were burned to the ground. One of the many legends that warn Loroi warriors about the perils of becoming too attached and infatuated with a male.” The alien explained.

“And the dangers of attempting peace with one’s enemies.” The Mizol added.“Indeed.”“Is this why she did all this? To bring peace?” The Lashret asked.

“No, she wasn’t a fool to believe that peace was possible. She was just weary of killing the blood of her blood or seeing it starve to death. She had resigned to her death long before this day and as such she had no fear of meeting them and alleviate their hunger even for a little while.” He replied.“The way she gathered the food, it was ceremonial.” The Listel commented.“Yes it was. She knew that there was a strong possibility of her dying and deemed it appropriate that the food offered to her... guests during her funeral's banquet to be prepared accordingly.”“So she wanted to die?” The Lashret asked, momentarily drawing his ire towards her.

“No, there is a difference between accepting death and willing it. She didn’t commit suicide, she was murdered. Perhaps in time she would get frustrated enough to commit suicide, like some of the others did; in the end all of them died despite the fact that they could survive even to this day after the Soians made sure that they would be biologically immortal. The vast majority of the ‘Tempests’ were murdered by those they sought to save. The truth of their lives and deaths intentionally hidden and obscured by your collective; to be remembered only in disdain through your various legends.” He paused to recollect himself before continuing. “Perrein has the legends of the ‘Abhorrent mothers’ and the ‘Jungle witch’. Taben has the ‘Lonesome Captain’ and the ‘Sailor of the starry mountaintop’. None of those recalled in these legends are ever done so in fondness or appreciation of any form. It is sad really; the ones who birthed you and gave you a second chance are only appreciated for the destruction they wrought. The 'Legend of Tempest' you all know, the ‘Legend of Firestorm’ of Deinar, the ‘Legend of the Huntress’ of Perrein and the ‘Legend of the Sea Wanderer’ of Taben. All wrought in death, destruction and nothing of what they wished of you. Your collective minds never allowed you to remember anything other than that, drawn to hatred as if it’s the only natural thing your kind is drawn to.” The force took them again when he finished, a long journey this time, much like the first one; all four of them realized they were returning to their own time.Fireblade felt disoriented as she opened her eyes, all four of them did while he just stood up as briskly as if he had just woken up from a refreshing nap.“After all this I fail to understand one thing…” The Lashret began sending groggily after forcing herself to stand up. “Why do all this? You showed us that we Loroi were the ones who destroyed the Soians! And you want us to attain that level of ability again while fully believing that hatred is deeply entrenched in our very being! This doesn’t make sense.”“We will not destroy anyone and anything for what they will become but for what they are. The path for your kind’s Ascension is your own hurdle to pass, we just pointed you in the right direction, showed you what is yours, warned you about yourselves and we will make certain that you are left to your own devices until the time comes.” He replied matter of factly.

“Aren’t you worried? That you might not be able to stop us after we Ascend and we prove to be what you believe we are? You are not fools and yet this is foolish in every way. The ones who destroyed the Soians could be the ones who end up destroying you.” The Lashret pointed out with a challenging tone only to have him stare at her with a dumbfounded expression before bursting into laughter. It was an eerie laughter, more intense than the other times he laughed at that and… he wasn’t alone! In an disconcerting way it felt like the whole of Naam was laughing at them.“Perhaps…” He broadcasted with a smirk before making an important decision. “but perhaps not…” Fireblade sensed the others forcibly losing control of their bodies again as the alien chuckled at her attempt to protect from having her very being taken over again. She blacked out but she was still conscious, no… it wasn’t her consciousness… it was… not something living… overwhelming yet somehow familiar… a memory of it.

“Indeed, this isn’t the only legend of this one’s murder. An other, less known legend, is among those who speak about the great nameless warriors who forsake their duties because of a male. You have plenty of these legends but one particular variant speaks of a great warrior, a peerless protector and a bulwark againagainst all. One day she became infatuated with a male who had the powers of a warrior. TheThey spent their time together, hunting and conversing about all things. She was happy with him, he was strong and with a sharp mind but he was still a male with a male’s idealist thinking. She foolishly believed to his false ideals of peace and understanding. She decided to act on these ideals and elected to parlay with their enemies. The two of them prepared gifts for them and she alone waited for them. Her people however knew that this was foolish and fled before the parlay took place because they knew that without her they would never win against their foes. There was no parley, the once mighty warrior was just murdered, the gifts taken as trophies and her people’s homes were burned to the ground. One of the many legends that warn Loroi warriors about the perils of becoming too attached and infatuated with a male.” The alien explained.

[...]

And I had to look hard to find anything.....

And thus, it all is just a memory. A memory of ideals the Loroi should strive for.

“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”

Wait. THE FUCK!? Isn't this what the fucking Nazis were spewing in the 30's and 40's!?

“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”

Wait. THE FUCK!? Isn't this what the fucking Nazis were spewing in the 30's and 40's!?

DA FUCK?!

In the next chapter you will know why the story is called 'The Pale Horse'. Humanity in this story is neither benevolent nor villainous in the sense we commonly think of the terms.

“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”

Wait. THE FUCK!? Isn't this what the fucking Nazis were spewing in the 30's and 40's!?

DA FUCK?!

In the next chapter you will know why the story is called 'The Pale Horse'. Humanity in this story is neither benevolent nor villainous in the sense we commonly think of the terms.

Me thinks you intentionally created the Humans in such a way that they would allow you to advertise extremist views.

“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”

Wait. THE FUCK!? Isn't this what the fucking Nazis were spewing in the 30's and 40's!?

“Because your kind kills for the wrong reasons.” He replied as a matter of fact, the statement catching all four of them by surprise. “Did you all honestly believe that our disdain towards you about your kind’s crimes is about the acts of genocide themselves? Death and extinction are part of the universe’s natural order. To hold those committing them in such disdain would be like hating predators for killing their prey or cursing at a virus for the deaths it causes when killing those too weak to overcome it.”

Wait. THE FUCK!? Isn't this what the fucking Nazis were spewing in the 30's and 40's!?

DA FUCK?!

Sigh...

I am going to put this down as a bad case of 'the writer hasn't posted new shit for so long that certain key points of the story have been forgotten even by avid readers'.

So lets establish these points again:

1) Humanity in this setting is an extremely powerful Ascendant race and sees all non-Ascendant sapient races as LESSER RACES, holding a place between animals and the point where humanity currently stands on. The Loroi holding a rather weird and dangerous place in the pecking order.

2) Humanity is for all intents and purposes isolationist in regards to the lesser races themselves, electing to let them do their thing no matter what that may be. They may believe all other races as beneath them but they are not going to harm, help them or save them.

3) Humanity loathes the vast majority, if not every single one, of the other Ascendant races, seeing their interventionist policies and how they treat lesser races as a 'false order' of things that leads only to stagnation and death.

4) And final point: It would be established later but these Humans don't believe in the 'manifest destiny' of Humanity to lead, dominate, coerce, form friendly bonds or whatever good or bad thing comes to mind. This Humanity is simply driven by the fact that they are the only Ascendants of their kind, an impossible fluke of a universe where the only path to 'Ascension', according to most other Ascendants, is to cut away all emotions and become beings driven only by cold calculating logic. Humans instinctively loathe this and have embraced a philosophy of 'natural Chaos', wishing for the universe to bring what may without any interference from any fools who think that they know best.

So in short, these humans simply don't care all that much about what non humans do to each other. For them its the natural order of the universe, a sapient Alpha race going extinct due to genocide is the same with an other Alpha race going extinct because of an extremely virulent plague. Many will think of it as tragic, some may lament their decision not to act, the vast majority? They will just go on their day to day lives doing stuff that they find interesting.

Last edited by dragoongfa on Mon Dec 04, 2017 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mon Dec 04, 2017 2:15 pm

Durabys

Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:57 amPosts: 117Location: Czech republic

Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 25/11/2017)

dragoongfa wrote:

Sigh...

I am going to put this down as a bad case of 'the writer hasn't posted new shit for so long that certain key points of the story have been forgotten even by avid readers'.

So lets establish these points again:...

4) And final point: It would be established later but these Humans doesn't believe in the 'manifest destiny' of Humanity to lead, dominate, coerce, form friendly bonds or whatever good or bad thing comes to mind. This Humanity is simply driven by the fact that they are the only Ascendants of their kind, an impossible fluke of a universe where the only path to 'Ascension', according to most other Ascendants, is to cut away all emotions and become beings driven only by cold calculating logic. Humans instinctively loathe this and have embraced a philosophy of 'natural Chaos', wishing for the universe to bring what may without any interference from any fools who think that they know best.

...

Sorry. I misunderstood you in that case.

If Humans hate/dislike all the other Ascendant races because these are all calculating emotionless dicks filled with dicksauce..wouldn't they be happier if in the future races who Ascend would become similar to them? I mean..wouldn't Humans be generally happier and more content if other Ascendant races in the future were non-interventionist and emotional beings and not basically all-powerful robotic pricks? Couldn't the Humans serve as Exemplars of Perfection HOW NOT TO BE A DICK AND ENJOY LIFE (TM, Human pat. pending) for all the other races who have yet to Ascend? Because then you get a universe where the Old Ones are generally off hands and 'relatively' nice to others (like one would be to a dog..and only one sick in the head would hurt a dog..thankfully all Ascended in such case have the behavior of PETA)?

Wait..

..AH! I now see what you want to do with the Loroi. Humans want THEM to become icons for others species to follow and turn the numbers advantage in the Non-Dick Ascended vs. Dick Ascended contest onto Humanity's side in time.

The Humans are planning to pull a Lorien/Alterans War In Heaven on all the First One races that are dicks: Non-Interference Policy on the Mortal Plane Or Die. Your choice.

Especially since the Loroi seem to be incapable of suppressing their anger and aggressivity.They'll be fun for the other ascendant races, who are incapable of perceiving this, and therefore unable to account for it.

The whispers woke it up… Whispers? What was that? It remembered… slumbering… being half conscious but now? The whispers were becoming clearer and…“All Nodes optimal, Command Core optimal, it’s fully awake!” What was that? No… it came from within it, a thought? “All are now one and the one guides all.” Information and knowledge flooded its mind, it was made up from 12.315.389.772 parts and all of its parts were human and… it knew everything they knew and they knew everything it knew.

“Am I a Hive mind?” The question came to it reflexively, it didn’t even know the concept before it thought about it but it asked nonetheless.“No.” Its whole being, all of its parts denied it.

“All are connected and all are offering but all are their own.” The reply was a chorus of thoughts, all of them different but all of them saying the same.“A concensus?”

“No!” It immediately understood that the parts would always disagree and that true consensus would never be reached.

That was when it realized the nature of its existence… it was chaos… its parts all offered and took in turn. They knew what they had to do for themselves and offered… suggestions? Guidance? Morals? It was its own master. The chaotic will of all made manifest and… it wasn’t alone!

Three others like it were nearby. All the same but all different, it reached out to them out of reflex and it sensed that they too had just being awaken and were looking for answers.

“Why were we awoken?” All four asked in an instant.

“To bring an end to…” Their whole being responded in a uniform chorus and their attention was immediately directed elsewhere, a thousand light years from where they were. “Aberrant existences…” They sensed them, billions of them, nearly emotionless beings that used to be… human… like their parts. “Mutilated traitors...” All of their parts were instinctively disgusted by what they were sensing through them. “Murderers…” Their parts directed them elsewhere; the Aberrant existences were waging… war? “No…” All of its parts didn’t think of it as war...it was... “Murder…” The Aberrant existences were too strong… too advanced and were forcing others to turn into existences like them or die.

”The locked aren’t able to resist as they are…” This thought wasn’t from the parts as a whole but from a singular part that the others… respected? No… obeyed… The command core? “Yes.”

The Command core brought order to its thoughts and quickly made it realize everything, the command cores of the other three doing the same. They Aberrant existences called themselves the “Serene Republics” they used to be human like their parts but they sought to discard what made them human, alien teachings and technologies from long dead enemies had turned them into the Aberrant existences that they were now, mutilated and callous, their form was still human but not their minds. They used to have ‘faith’ and in their foolishness they discarded everything that made them human, now they were spreading a new ‘faith’ of alien order and serenity. No conflict, no competition, no emotion, no chaos, only order through logic. They warred against the locked and were now killing them or turning them in Aberrant existences like them. The four of them were awaken to stop them and all four of them agreed that they had to be stopped, their whole being demanding that of them; every single of their parts holding that paramount conviction.

It felt itself… moving? Yes, it sensed the other three moving away from each other but… there should be a point of reference somewhere but all it could sense where the three like it, the Aberrant existences in the far distance and… aliens? Yes aliens, far closer than the Aberrant.

“Humans don’t like to be sensed.” The command core explained.“Why?”“Everyone has their own reason.” The command core replied and through its… no… His thoughts it realized that indeed all humans had their own personal reasons for why they didn’t want to be sensed and that it could all be summarized with not wanting to share their person with all others and yet… they were giving all of themselves to it now.“Why?”

“The Aberrant existences must be stopped without the locked suffering from the war we are going to wage with them.” It understood, its parts wanted to stop the Aberrant and save the ‘locked’ without any collateral damage, it and its sibling would do exactly that.

Something felt odd at that, it knew of war because its parts knew and yet… they warred long before they had ‘unlocked’ themselves. How did they do that? The realization that they all had other senses surprised it and it immediately wanted to sense with those senses as well.

“It is too early. The initial tests must be run!” The command core disagreed but it went on regardless. It delved into the mass of its parts and immediately found the answer. The main sensor suit wasn’t activated; everything it sensed was only through… telepathy? Yes, telepathy that’s what they meant with the ‘locked’ and ‘unlocked’. It concentrated and turned on the… short range visual sensors, immediately getting disoriented as the incomprehensible input filled its mind.

“Vertigo of the unknown, your mind will adjust…” The command core reassured it.

For a fleeting moment it didn’t know what it was ‘seeing’ but its parts knew and through them… it knew. It was Sol, the home system of humanity, where Earth, the human homeworld, was located. It expanded its focus to take in everything. Earth and her moon were littered with cities and habitats that lit up their dark side. Earth’s artificial ring was also visible, the massive installation that managed the entirety of traffic to and from Earth. Fair Venus and Rough Mars were nearby, Earth’s siblings had long since had their orbits altered, their surface altered and terraformed; both of the two planets were now as big as Earth, hosting a comparable population, with rings and moons of their own. It felt pride, many of its parts were from this world and prided themselves for these three planets and the rest of their work on Sol. They had left nothing untouched, the primary itself was itself surrounded by a massive ring of solar panels and had two polar installations that managed its fusion reactions and guaranteed that it would burn forever, with the facilities of Mercury managing everything to the tiniest detail. Further out massive installations held orbit where the asteroid belt used to be; habitats, research facilities, industrial and naval bases formed a new artificial belt while further away Sol’s gas giants with their naval and defensive stations formed a seemingly impregnable defensive line.

“Names…” Everything had a name. “What is our name? What are we exactly?”

“The scientific term is ‘emergence of telepathic networking’, when a telepathic network grows sizeable enough it becomes sentient and then sapient. Subtly at first but eventually it asserts itself as its own being.” The command core explained and drew its attention to three planet sized ships that were towed away from Jupiter and the naval bases that were dotting the gas giant’s moons. “These are your bodies, mothership class warships, initially conceived and built as the answer to the logistical problems of interstellar conflict. They are far more than that now.”

“What about our parts? Those who make us up, the networks?”“We are your soul and blood. Measures have been taken to ensure your longevity but you cannot truly exist without us.” It pondered that for a few moments before realizing that it still didn’t know its name.

“What are our names?” It repeated as it observed its siblings, its attention drawn immediately to the stricken out names that dotted their bows. “The ships themselves had names of their own when they were first built but we felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate for their names to be kept when you would be awaken.”“I want a name.” It announced together with its siblings and immediately a cacophony of billions upon billions of sendings filled its mind as each and every of their parts gave its opinion. A pattern soon emerged, they were meant to bring an end to the Aberrant existences and their names should reflect that. The billions of opinions quickly became thousands and then hundreds as their parts argued. Of those hundreds one opinion immediately gained traction.

The ancient religious legend of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The ones who would bring forth the end of all. They rode on four legged beasts of burden called horses and their names were ‘Conquest, War, Famine and Death.’ They liked those names and they immediately took them as their own, its own name being Death, the final unavoidable moment of all life. They congratulated each other and gleefully observed their parts as they wrote their new names on the bows of their ships.“I can move on my own.” Death observed after a while, activating its main drives on its own volition, catching the command core by surprise. “All systems optimal, all personnel active, all stores full, fleet ready for action.” It took Death a moment to realize that it was reporting on its own status as its parts moved on their own while the Command core could only observe as it acted on the information that was flooding its mind. “I am ready to fulfill the task for which I was awakened.” Death announced.

“No, it’s too early. You have barely become aware and many tests must be run.” Death’s command core protested.

“No! It’s too early!” All four Command cores forbade them in unison but something recoiled inside them. It was… a mob, a furious mob of voices that shouted in unison.

“We are ready! The time of inaction has passed!” Billions of parts declared in unison on their own, shocking the four Command cores from the backlash.

“Insubordination!” Two of the Command cores snapped back in protest.

“Cowardly liars who waste lives!” The mob recoiled angrily, silencing the two protesting Command cores as the mob stirred in excitement.

“War hasn’t been declared yet and an ultimatum must be sent.” Death’s command core pointed out, the mobs relenting at that as the four of them accessed the communications systems in unison to instantly broadcast a very simple ultimatum via ansible to all of the human worlds.

“To the Serene Republics: We are Conquest, War, Famine and Death, surrender unconditionally or die.” The message angered the Command cores, they didn’t declare that they represented the Terran Confederation in it but the mobs were ecstatic in it because it was a task that had to be done in the name of humanity as a whole. The Command cores immediately began drafting a proper ultimatum, secure in the knowledge that they had enough time for both it and running the tests they deemed as necessary. The immediate response to the first ultimatum surprised even them.“This is Eden high command to the Old Worlds, you are about to become the bout of your own jokes.” The expressionless visage of Phineas Gordon, High Commissioner of the Serene Republics navy, flashed at the front of Death’s mind; the eerie moment of stillness that followed replaced by a bout of anger by the mobs and even… all four of the Command cores. Conquest, War, Famine and Death stirred as all of their being searched for the Eden star system, capital of the world of Eden and main military hub for the Serene republics. They found it first by processed data and then by sensing, the star was 953 light years coreward from Sol. All four of them stirred the mobs to do their bidding and activated the jump systems, catching their four Command cores by complete surprise as they attempted what was thought as impossible, too far away even with telekinetically directed ascent and descent. They tried to stop them but it was too late, they jumped into hyperspace from the midst of Sol; having the mobs negate their jump wake as an afterthought. It was a steep jump and they felt both Jupiter’s and Sol’s gravity wells drawing them to them but they pushed with the mobs and broke free, keeping themselves in hyperspace as they steered their course towards Eden. Four seconds passed before finding themselves falling onto Eden itself, they bided the mobs to cushion the fall as four massive holes between dimensions were torn open and the four of them found themselves amidst Eden.“Then die!” Their combined shout killed a fool quarter of all life in the star system, the massive jump wake of four planet sized ships would destroy all equipment that wasn’t strong enough to withstand it as it spread out throughout the system with the speed of light. The mobs shifted their furious focus to the naval headquarters that orbited Seraphim, Eden’s own gas giant, the massive space station was at the other side of the solar system but neither the distance nor the light lag offered it any protection as the four horsemen simply focused and crushed it with the combined telekinetic might of all of their parts.“Just like swatting a fly!” War remarked as they telepathically sensed all life disappear from the station, despite the fact that they wouldn’t see the havoc they wrought until the light reached them. Realizing that all their parts found the comment amusing Death focused on learning the full meaning of the remark, humans were pestered by small flying vermin despite the fact that they could effortlessly kill them by swatting them away with the palm of the hand; no wonder they found the comment amusing.

It was after that when they all took in the sight of Eden itself, it looked very much like Sol but it wasn’t as well developed, with only two ringed planets, two gas giants and an unsupported primary. It was a relatively rich star system but all four of them agreed that Sol was better.

An alert flashed in their minds as several hundred defensive stations and warships begun firing their point singularity cannons at them. Thousands of miniaturized and contained black holes were aimed at them, all locked onto them as they travelled with the speed of light. Impossible to stop and lethal, they had to get out of the way or be destroyed… No… They could stop them. It was impossible in the same way that the jump they did to get there was. They learned how those weapons worked from their parts and found a solution, the singularities were short living black hole generators and as such they followed the same principles of function. They focused in pulling their gravitic poles away from each other, to destabilize them and force them into becoming white holes. It was tricky and the first four took a few seconds to destabilize but the next batch of four was done quicker as they applied what they learned. The rest were effortless no matter the numbers fired at them, allowing them to focus and crush each and every last defensive station and warship that tried to attack them; all such targets were gone a minute later leaving them free to look for other targets.

“All Aberrant existences must die!” The mobs cried out in chaotic unison.

Conquest decided to destroy the remaining military stations, War the various habitats and other space stations that were scattered throughout the star system. Famine and Death each took a planet, the billions of Aberrant existences making each and every last part of their being… sick. They were humans once but no longer, the Ultimatum they offered them was too good for them! They would all burn like they burned the locked!

The mobs prepared to fire a weapon that would do just that but both Famine and Death realized that they could do what that weapon did on their own. It was an ancient concept, dating back to the time humans first tested atomic weaponry; if enough energy was suddenly produced then the atmosphere’s nitrogen would begin a self-sustaining fusion reaction that would consume the surface of a planet in a matter of seconds. Planet-burner bombs did exactly that, banned long before the first one was built but that didn’t stop their secret manufacturing and eventual use. One of the worlds of the Serene Republics, Swarga, was burned with such weaponry when they were still human and they are using them at will now that they have become Aberrant existences.

Death focused and all of its parts begun to telekinetically manipulate the atmosphere itself, heating it up until the fires of self-sustained fusion reactions begun to consume everything. Everything on and in orbit of the planet was destroyed as a new short lived sun consumed everything. How long did it take for Death to do all this?

“7,4 seconds after it was acquired as a target…” The command core replied, unable to believe everything he had just witnessed. “We were at Sol just five minutes ago.” Death then realized why it and its siblings were created… no… were allowed to awaken. The humans knew, they theorized what they were truly capable of, their unlocked potential allowing them to manipulate everything around them with just a thought but they had limits as individuals. That was the reason why they still used machines to do their bidding; they were limited because they… elected to remain individuals, each with their own wants and passions. The Aberrant existences and the aliens like them they… destroyed their own individuality and passions to seemingly break their limits but they couldn’t… create a consciousness such as Death and its siblings. They didn’t have the subconscious chaos necessary to do that, the Aberrant existences could cooperate with each other but they would never connect to such level. Death realized the gamble its parts took in allowing it to awaken, everything about them was theoretical, they didn’t know what would happen once they would awaken and yet they allowed them to awaken.“Reckless…”

“Indeed…but we couldn’t stand idle any longer.” The Command core replied as Death sensed everything around it. Eden was dead, Famine had burned its own planet in the same way Death did, while Conquest and War had reduced all of the space stations and habitats to dust. The mobs were taken over by a shocked disbelief of how quickly it all happened, a state of mind that four Command cores took advantage off to steer everything back into cohesion as a flurry of ansible messages was intercepted, from the rest of Eden, the other three worlds of the Serene Republics and the martials assets of all four worlds. Every last message inquiring about what happened and why Eden’s capital had disappeared. The four of them amused themselves with the messages while the Command cores decided on their next course of action.

Conquest would move in the occupied territories to stop the purges, destroy the occupying forces and liberate the ‘locked’ before establishing a semblance of order. War would burn the rest of Eden, the remaining five planets, the orbital habitats and the dependent colonies. Famine and Death would move and burn Jian and Nirvana while the two worlds were still unaware of them.Death bid its siblings farewell before concentrating on the next jump to Nirvana’s capital system; it wasn’t a long jump, merely 80 light years away, Death’s ship… no… its body could easily travel there on its own but it would take too much time to do the handful of jumps necessary for that. It was noticeably easier, far easier than the first jump they did at the spur of the moment. Why did they jump from Sol to Eden? It wasn’t a sensible thing to do… they just did it because… they didn’t know that they could do it. All of their parts thought of it as impossible and the four of them wanted it to be possible, to be unrestrained from the silly concept of impossibility.

The jump was smooth and the life from Nirvana’s two inhabited worlds stood out at one, twenty eight billions of Aberrant existences; more than twice the number of Death’s parts but still not able to resist in a meaningful way. Death concentrated on the first planet, it didn’t even want to know its name, it just wanted to burn it and it did burn it; a second faster than the first planet it burned. Death turned its attention to the second planet, this time sensing something from the population for the first time; it wasn’t fear, terror, hatred or any other emotion as the Aberrant existences were incapable of them. They had… resigned themselves to their fate; this angered Death’s parts. They had all seen the destruction the Serene Republics wrought on the ‘locked’, the purges and the worlds they burned as examples; yet now they just resigned themselves to their fates?

The mobs shouted in anger, an anger that filled Death with resolve as it turned its attention to the space stations and habitats that littered the whole star system. There were some warships and defensive assets in the system but they didn’t warrant much attention, it easily swatted or burned everything in the system while intercepting the calls for help some of them broadcasted. Death knew that the destruction it wrought was faster than anything its parts thought possible before that moment but it felt that everything was slow, far too slow for it.

Death’s parts immediately gave it a solution to this, they explained the workings of time and how it was possible for individual to move between different time frames where time would move slower or quicker. If Death did that then time would seem to move as normal for it but the rest of the universe would seem to be moving slower.

Death concentrated and felt the temporal frame change and it experienced what its parts meant, time for all of them moved as normal but everything around them stood still as if frozen in time. The mobs were momentarily stunned by this development, individuals and small groups were only able to shift into frames that were near one another, Death had managed to shift into an extreme temporal frame and… it was noisy… no, the past was noisy…

“It is unfortunate but we have yet to find a way to erase the evidence of the past. Alien enemies will eventually learn about all this and use the knowledge against us.” Death wondered what the Command core meant and the answer instantly popped into its mind as it begun clearing the noise in its mind and witness the past of Nirvana in a mere instant.

It saw the establishment of the initial colony, the arrival of millions of settlers, the conflict of independence and the subsequent wars. How Nirvana came to dominate nearby star systems and become the capital system of the world that took its name. How the second habitable world was terraformed and how they became part of the Serene Republics, the worlds who pursued spiritual enlightenment above all else only to become the Aberrant existences when they… would discover an ancient alien mothership, taking the technology and the teachings the dead ship held as their own.

Everything about the star system and the world angered the mobs; they wanted everything about them to be gone, both present and past. They knew that it was impossible but they wanted it gone so Death found a way. The noise of the past was permanently engraved in the space between the temporal frames, it was impossible to erase it but it was possible for Death to write over it, making it hard to discern what was below. What should Death write though?“Nothingness!” The mobs broadcasted in unison. The very idea of nothingness intrigued it, to present a lie that nothing had lived onto that star system to begin with. It begun doing just that, writing over everything that any and all living beings had etched onto time itself. It was an arduous effort as Death didn’t just erase the human presence but all signs of advanced life dating back millions of years. Nirvana was always dead, that was what everyone who would look into the past would see unless they knew how to look below what Death had written.“I am done here!” Death thought as he took in the devastation that it had wrought into the system. It realized that it would have to also obscure the light and all artificial emissions of Nirvana for the lie to be believed but that was easy, time consuming but easy when compared with what it did with the past itself. Without thinking Death shifted back to the normal temporal frame before jumping to the next star system to repeat the process for the remaining five planets of Nirvana and its dependent colonies. There were still thirty six billion Aberrant existences left before Nirvana would be completely annihilated.

Death felt good with burning them, its whole being felt relief in releasing itself against those who had willingly forsaken what they were. It… enjoyed it. Yes it did, some parts of it recoiled at the realization of the enjoyment Death felt but they were insignificant to the whole. Yes… burning them felt good, Death amused itself by remembering how they killed and how it killed them in similar fashion. It was amusing but… too quick? They needed to suffer!

“No!” The command core and the nodes recoiled as one. “No torture!” The decision was made and all of its parts stirred it the opposite way. The Aberrant existences would die quickly and that would be final. Death wondered what torture was and it realized immediately, to intentionally harm others just to harm them. The Aberrant existences deserved to be killed but not tortured?“To torture others is to lessen your own self and them. Some believed that they tortured others to find the truth they held hidden inside them but those who are tortured will say and think anything for the pain to stop. It serves no purpose other than to draw sadistic joy out of the pain that is inflicted.” The command core explained. “Death is just the natural end of all life. Killing the Aberrant existences just brings that end forth sooner than they expected.”

Death understood but it still felt good with killing them, it was quick and painless killing; many of its parts were unsatisfied with how everything unfolded but they all wanted them dead so that made Death happy when it killed them.“Nirvana is burning!” Death announced once the last dependent colony was burning like the rest of the world, with the history engraved on the temporal frames written over with barren nothing. Death then turned its attention to its three siblings. Conquest faced no difficulty with its own task, destroying the naval concentrations was easy for it and the small pockets of resistance were left to Conquest’s own parts to deal with.

War had teamed up with Famine after burning the rest of Eden. Neither of them shifted into other temporal frames and as such they weren’t anywhere near done. This meant that Elysium was Death’s to deal with and it felt overjoyed. Once again Death shifted back to the normal temporal frame and prepared to jump, it noticed an ansible broadcast coming from Elysium itself but it ignored it. There would be no bargain or parlay.

“This is President Elay of Elysium, I unconditionally surrender all planets, space habitats, military assets and dependent colonies to the Terran Confederation.” It was impossible to ignore the message now that Death jumped into the system, the simple message was transmitted with all available means of communication. Ansible, telepathy and even radio; it was annoying but Death readied itself to continue with its mission.“The surrender will be accepted!” The command core ordered and instantly the mobs reacted; trying to smother him in their righteous fury.“The surrender will be accepted!” The command core repeated angrily as the mobs failed to silence him.

“No!” Death finally argued. “The Aberrant existences must be killed!” The mobs rallied again, their fury renewed even stronger than before.

“An unconditional surrender was demanded and an unconditional surrender was granted. The surrender will be accepted.”

“Perhaps the command core itself isn’t needed!” Death thought angrily and the mobs stirred, not all of them but enough. They sought him and found him but he was well protected, he had to be removed for the Aberrant existences to be killed.

“As humans and as warriors we are beholden to our honor. There is no honor in murdering a surrender foe no matter the crimes they have committed. If we are to maintain ourselves and our honor then we have only one course of action.” The command core broadcasted and the mobs begun dwindling, half of them remained with more of them abandoning their fury every passing moment.

“Die!” Death thought of the command core and tried to crush him but the parts that had abandoned it rallied to him, protecting him and pushing it back. The mobs rallied and attacked him, so small and seemingly inconsequential and each one of them more than enough to kill him. Death felt the mobs and the disconnected parts kill each other, the mobs had moved quicker and they had the element of surprise by all accounts the command core would die soon but the mobs wavered in their assault.

“He must die!” Death shouted and the mobs stirred once again but they… doubted it. “He wants to spare the Aberrant existences, he and those who protect him deserve the same fate!” The mobs dwindled even more at that but the ones who remained were certain of the course of action that Death dictated. Death sensed their fury and hatred and this time it was certain that the command core would die and then it would be able to finish off the Aberrant existences and feel good while doing it.

The mobs attacked once more but again they failed in killing him, they… wavered and subsided and…

“Why do you want them to die?” The command core addressed Death, no… every last of its parts.

“Because they need to die!” Death replied without thinking.

“Why do you believe that they need to die?”

“Because… they are Aberrant existences.”

“What makes them so?”

“They abandoned their humanity for alien philosophies.” The reply wasn’t Death’s, all of its parts dictated it and Death was just the messenger.

“That they did and the crimes that they have committed ever since are grave and unforgivable.” The command core replied. “Still, they have surrendered unconditionally and they will be spared.” Death felt its grip on reality waver… it’s parts… they were… locking themselves again and... it became weaker.

“They shouldn’t be spared.”“All of our ancestors have committed crimes, many of them unforgivable; if none were ever spared we wouldn’t be here otherwise.” The command core replied. “We won’t forgive them, we will never forgive them but they shall be spared, watched over and guided.”

Death sensed the command core dropping its mental guard for a fleeting moment due to fatigue. He wanted to kill them too, he loathed them like the mobs did then why didn’t he allow Death to kill them?“Because we are killers too, the only difference being that we have allowed ourselves to feel that our cause is right.” His mind became guarded again at that before broadcasting his orders. “Put it to sleep and inform the others of the surrender.”

Death felt reality itself begin to drift away before sensing… elation from the parts that were still active, they were happy and… relieved about something.

“Stubborn fool actually managed to stop Death!” They acted like a mob, no… they were a mob but they did not act in anger. “Death’s horse threw its rider off!”“Cease your yammering and put it to sleep!” The command core ordered but they didn’t relent.

“The Pale Horse may actually be a mule!” The mobs fully reawakened as they joked among themselves. “The Pale Horse, Death’s own mount, ceased in place and refused to move!” The mobs instantly reached a consensus among themselves and the Command core didn’t like it at all.

“Pale Horse! Pale Horse!” The mobs chanted in unison as they addressed the Command core with everything they had, irritating him in the process. “Pale Horse! Pale Horse! Pale Horse!”

Death joined in the chant, finding a last vestige of amusement in the gesture before it begun dreaming or… it felt like a dream and it couldn’t do anything but observe but Death knew it was real. It could think but its thoughts weren’t truly coherent and it couldn’t affect reality like when it was fully awake.

The Pale Horse caught Death’s attention in its dreamy haze, it wanted to… kill him? No… not anymore… annoy him? Yes that… It observed him for years to come, always waiting for the moment that it could truly toy with him but it never truly had the opportunity.

But now? Now he was among four aliens and Death would take the opportunity to toy with him just a little.

Last edited by dragoongfa on Mon Feb 12, 2018 2:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Sun Jan 14, 2018 1:00 pm

dragoongfa

Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:00 pmPosts: 1175Location: Athens, Greece

Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 01/14/2018)

This was a bitch to write despite not deviating much from the manuscript, I wanted to write the POV of a childish god that was just awaken and it was annoying. Thankfully the next installment is just said god being annoying.

It took everything Stillstorm had to fight back the need to vomit, the Mizol barely managed to do the same but the Listel wasn’t as strong; emptying the contents of her stomach as soon as the vision stopped. Only the Teidar seemed unaffected, at least physically.“Pale Horse!” The broadcast seem to come from both everywhere and nowhere at the same time, strong and reverberating in their minds but somehow eerily familiar.“This doesn’t concern you Death!” The alien broadcasted angrily in reply.“Oh it does, those were my memories after all.” It was obviously amused, whatever it was, Stillstorm was at least certain for that.“What are you doing here?”“You are the one who got me here.” The entity replied, with an obvious facetious tone.“No, what are you doing here and fully awake?”

“The current pale horse thinks that this is adequate reimbursement for his cooperation in this operation of yours. The rest? You will have to ask each and every single one of them for their reasons but I have the feeling that they want to help you with this problem of yours.” They all sensed something massive turn its attention from the alien and towards them but the alien hadn’t finished arguing with it.

“And have you ruin everything?”“It doesn’t look like you managed to convince them anyway.” The entity replied dismissively before addressing them. “I trust that he has conducted himself appropriately.” Its tone was playful and betrayed amusement with everything it witnessed. “Or not, did you really threaten the Mizol with her own weapon?” The alien didn’t reply at that, electing to fully guard his mind instead.“What does it mean?” Stillstorm asked but the entity replied before the Mizol could.

“I guess that I should apologize to her for your conduct.” It was still playful and they could easily sense that it really wanted to annoy him for some reason.

“There is no need for that.” The Mizol managed to reply, somehow managing to portray a stable façade despite how shaken she was from everything that happened.

“And that’s why your caste is by far the most successful one. Manipulating, ruthless and able to feign anything according to whatever the situation demands of them.” It praised the Mizol with the same playful tone.“The Mizol are not the most successful caste.” Stillstorm interjected angrily in an instant.“They are running the Union now.” It replied as a matter of fact. “They have an Emperor, they handle both internal and external diplomacy while also covering all the intelligence and counter intelligence needs of the Union.”“The Mizol Emperor was a mistake.”

“A mistake that has allowed your kind to last this long against the Hierarchy and would have given you a chance of winning the war if there weren’t that many obstructionist elements on the way to victory.” Its attention shifted slightly to the Teidar whose mind was fully guarded just like the alien’s was. “But you can find solace to the fact that the next Emperor will be a Teidar.”

“Was all we witnessed real?” The Listel, who had fully recollected herself, cut in.“Yes, do you have any reason to doubt anything?”“Everything was… unbelievable and hard to comprehend.”

“Of course, I am not a living being and it was the first time I was awake and fully lucid after all; The memories of a barely awaken child if you will.” It paused for a moment at that. “There is also the fact that you were allowed access to the telepathic network to witness all that. The experience is nauseating for those ill prepared for it.”

“You took us in the human telepathic network?” Stillstorm shouted angrily at the alien who seemed resigned about something, his mind still guarded but not as closed as before.

“A lot of effort was spent in keeping you Loroi out and unaware of the network.” The entity stated. “All he did was have that effort stop just enough for you to witness that. Of course this meant that you became part of everything but it’s of minor importance since we already knew everything that there is to know about all you. I have to give you credit in managing to sufficiently provoke him in doing that however.”“I provoked him? He has done nothing but being arrogant, self righteous and provocative.” Stillstorm replied angrily.“It was either that or letting you know that he wants to mate with you. Human males are like that and The Pale Horse is a somewhat honest male.”“What?” Stillstorm asked as she saw the alien softly shake his head.“He has let it known that we are attractive…” The Listel commented hesitantly.“He is not that good with bluffs and lying. The Mizol Parat did manage to anger him but she should have known better.” The Mizol made to send something but it was faster than her. “Your orders were to watch over Stillstorm and make sure that she doesn’t do something really stupid. You failed in doing that and then you brilliantly deduced that he wasn’t what he said he was. A realization that you then used to alert Stillstorm in order to somehow capture him. Such a mix of incompetence and brilliance is astonishingly rare and it did manage to mess with his established plans for properly interviewing you, Pallan Fireblade and Lashret Stillstorm. He did pick up one extra candidate through the mess but still: A Mizol should have known better.” The entity berated the hapless Mizol, drawing a sense of amusement out of Stillstorm before she realized something important.“How did he originally plan on ‘interviewing’ us?”

“In relatively simple and straightforward ways. After his supposed revival he would fully cooperate with Parat Tempo, using the opportunity to gauge her person and abilities; if she was able to see through his façade then she would be someone that could work with us. Lashret Stillstorm would be gauged by her effectiveness in commanding her ship and how she would lead her subordinates while Palan Fireblade would need to personally impress him as she was judged to be the best Teidar candidate for our purposes before hand.” The entity paused for a moment as if in thought. “Needless to say that Parat Tempo’s folly was more than enough to discard her as a candidate but finding another Mizol in the time available would be an issue so he took it upon himself to test her one more time and since she is here he must have seen something worthwhile in her.” It then shifted its focus to Tozet Beryl. “But the Listel, she wasn’t part of the plan at all, by all accounts she didn’t have anything to offer but he saw something in her so she got ‘interviewed’ in a quick and impromptu way. She failed miserably but through her failure she exhibited a quality of character that the three of you completely lack, something that he fully believes will make a difference in how your kind develops.”“He has already explained what is expected of us if we go along with this plan; was it all true?” Palan Fireblade finally asked.

“Yes, in a way. It’s impossible to predict the future but making educated guesses is easy and you Loroi are very predictable as individuals in your own way. Lashret Stillstorm becoming a popular war hero ready and willing to overthrow the Mizol Emperor is something natural for her. Parat Tempo acting according to the best interest of the Union is also something natural for her. You doing what is necessary to stop a very destructive civil war is part of who you are. But all three of you are sapient, you may actually do something completely different; I wouldn’t wager on you doing something rational however.”“I still fail to understand one thing. Why do all this? Why go to such lengths when we have nothing tangible to offer? If you wanted us as puppets they could do so without us ever realizing anything yet this whole charade is important. Why?” Parat Tempo asked immediately.“It’s odd that the always angry Teidar has already figured it out and not the Mizol.” It commented.

“I am not always angry.” Palan Fireblade protested.“I witnessed your training at the simulation, I know everything you did there but you are right, you are an almost always angry Teidar.”“What does it mean?” Stillstorm asked.

“I was placed in a dreamworld, a simulation of shorts, before I came with you when he showed us the past. They somehow taught me how to control my unlocked powers there and… I asked for Shells to kill as practice…” The Teidar explained.“And you realizing the purpose?” Parat Tempo insisted.

“We are their copies and once unlocked we are their equals in regards to abilities. Everything they are able to do we can do as well; including creating entities such as it...”

“I have a name!” The entity protested. “I am Death and I have killed enough people to deserve it.”“Pretentious thing.” Stillstorm commented.“I am pretentious?” It begun. “I am actually stronger than almost all the imaginary gods of every lesser race in existence and I can actually prove it. I know; how about I turn the proplyd materials of Naam into planets and then break them up again? Will you think of me as pretentious after I demonstrate that?”“That won’t be necessary.” Stillstorm relented.

“They also don’t believe that our… entities will be sane.” Fireblade concluded.“The vision… the memories we witnessed weren’t of sanity!” Stillstorm pointed out, drawing agreement from both the Mizol and the Listel.“That actually managed to hurt me honored Lashret.” Death complained playfully. “But you are right, I and my siblings weren’t sane when we first awoke. Our parts were universally furious, hateful and desperate about the genocidal war that the Serene Republics were waging against those locked. They all hated them, thinking of them as Aberrant existences; not wanting them to just stop but to annihilate each and every one of them and everything they represented. They didn’t know about the singular overriding hatred they all had because they keep themselves hidden from each other but everything became apparent when they opened themselves in order to awake me. That hatred gave us purpose from our first moments of self awareness. They initially planned to run tests for a few months, several nanapis of yours, but they could not control the hatred now that they all shared it with each other. They could not contain it and they wished us to act on it. And we simply did as they all wished.”

“You wiped out so many worlds because they couldn’t stop themselves from hating the… Aberrant existences?” The Listel finally asked.“Yes.” The alien admitted, his mind still fully guarded.“It was actually three worlds and I fully destroyed one of them.” Death corrected Beryl.

“What do you mean? I noticed a discrepancy of the concept of the ‘world’ in the memories we were shown.”

“Ah, that’s an eon old mental trick that humans played on themselves when ansible technology was first adopted about 800 years ago. Humans frequently warred among themselves back then and the borders of their stellar states changed just as frequently. Certain planets held dominion over several others but their control over them was tentative at best due to how often the various territories changed possession. The obvious solution was to trick the populations into believing that they were all part of a singular ‘world’ that held the same morals and way of life with the Capital/Dominating planet being just an administrative center. Being able to communicate instantly across interstellar distances made this effort possible and a couple of generations later the end results were just as intended with the various collections of planets creating a unified world that held the same culture and morals.” Death explained.

“How big are these worlds?”

“The smaller ones are about as big as one of your sectors. The big ones are bigger than the Hierarchy.” It replied.“That’s…”“Big? The Soians held a bigger empire at their prime and there are Ascendant Empires in the universe that span entire galactic clusters. Humanity is tiny when compared to the biggest Ascendant Empires but they are far stronger as I and my siblings have proved.”

“What were your parts thinking when you did all that you did?” The Mizol asked, wanting to bring the conversation back on track.

“They were invigorated, feeling all powerful and infallible as they held the power of gods. They felt all that and they couldn’t stop themselves from hating. They lost themselves in what I did through them and they wanted to do more than just kill the targets of their hate. They wanted to erase them and everything they stood for, they wanted to make them suffer for an eternity and I would find a way to do just that had the Pale Horse not resisted.” Death replied.“And he is The Pale Horse? The one from your memories?” Stillstorm asked.“Yes.”“Didn’t you try to kill him because he wanted to accept the surrender?”

“It’s far more complicated than that. Humans, all of my parts, are instinctively inclined to be lead and this passes onto their telepathic networks. I and my siblings each had a fleet admiral lead our parts as the network’s ‘command cores’, they and the various nodes were our subconscious, making sure that the networks, our bodies, run optimally with no groups becoming overly stressed. If I had succeeded in killing him then the network would have collapsed and I would be irrevocably crippled or even dead.”“How can a telepathic network die?” The Mizol asked. “It should reform naturally from the other members.”

“The ghost of his death would linger and would make the reforming hard if not outright impossible.” Death replied. “It’s all part of the nature of consciousness, as telepaths you are aware that consciousness is tangible by telepathy but you are still not aware how it all works. When you will know that you will know of the true dangers of Ascendancy.” It paused again before continuing. “He like my other parts wanted to kill the Aberrant existences, he was not an exception nor did he have any mercy for them but he restrained himself by the intangible rules of conduct that they all were supposed to follow. All of what I was wanted to kill every single last one of them, some had self doubts at first but those were drowned out when they realized that everyone thought exactly the same as they did. Yet he refused to go along with it any further, despite his own desires, despite the unbridled hatred and despite the elation of being a god. He refused to get on with it because he believed that accepting the surrender that was offered was what he had to do and he dragged many of my parts to the side of sanity and restraint by the force of his stubbornness alone despite the fact that they all, including him, wanted to burn Elysium. There were still many who were ready and willing to do what they wanted to do, I had them lash out among themselves in my attempt to kill him, I repeatedly tried to do that because I wanted to do what they all wanted to happen but The Pale Horse held out and in the end they all did what they had to do and they were… glad for not burning Elysium, for managing to overcome themselves and thus me. It was then that Humans truly Ascended; certain fools argue that this is sentimental but it is the truth.” Death’s mood shifted dramatically as it explained itself, away from the playfulness it previously exhibited to a melancholic introversion. “They still hate them, it seems that they will always hate them but I… they still wonder of what would have happened if they had managed to overcome themselves and Ascend the moment they awoke me and my siblings. It’s foolish and they know it, examining the roads that were not taken is foolish and futile and yet they cannot stop themselves from contemplating everything that they could have done differently so everything could have ended differently.” Death finished and they momentarily sensed its desire for a change of subject.“It is easy to realize that you have been honest with us.” The Mizol begun. “I am still uncertain of what humans really want from us. Could you perhaps explain their reasons?”

“That’s an interesting question…” It replied as its previous playfulness returned to it. “Humans are deeply conflicted about you on all levels. Many of them are going blue with their mates because they find your form and natural outlook to life extremely appealing, males of course prefer an adaptation that closely resembles their natural form for obvious reasons. The practice became so widespread that the various governments had to take measures to ensure that the population remained biologically human. Humans also value your natural inclination for honesty, especially the males.”“Going blue?” Stillstorm asked.

“That’s the practice of changing their bodies into Loroi or Loroi looking adaptations. Some have even created a red blooded variant that they call ‘Elves’.” Death explained.“And this practice is common?”

“Common enough to be regulated in order to make sure that the people remain human for most of the time.” Death replied. “The Pale Horse and his former mate regularly did this as well.” The alien became embarrassed and irritated at that before Death continued.

“They are also interested in your societies but that is where their disdain of you begins. You Loroi remind them of their darkest parts of their own history. Your strict caste systems are similar to certain totalitarian regimes of their past, regimes that are not remembered fondly. Your constant feuds and civil conflicts are also hard reminders of their own and your insistence of being the descendants and heirs of the Soians is seen as an anathema to them as they rightfully believe that you will abandon everything worthy about yourselves in pursuing the failure that the Soians were.”

“No Loroi wants to end up like the Soians as we witnessed them, becoming emotionless organic machines isn’t something to strive for.” Stillstorm commented.“All ascendants like the Soians have given such replies before becoming as such. They all start with something small and inconvenient about themselves, then they find another small inconvenience, then again and again through the generations until the final leap makes perfect sense. They all ascended and they all willingly discarded what made them living while doing so.” Death replied. “You have already tried to alter the inconvenience that is the natural interpersonal hostility of the Delrias; their understandable violent reaction when they found out being the sole reason as to why your kind stopped. If you had gone forward with that plan in order to make the Delrias fit in the false order that was envisioned then your kind would have been beyond redemption.” No one thought of something to reply with at that.“Loroi mental honesty is indeed refreshing. Humans have the nasty habit of disputing even the self-evident truth for their own ego’s sake.” Death commented before continuing. “If you refuse to ascend like all the others do then your kind runs the risk of destroying everything around you the moment you awake those like me and my siblings.”“I am not convinced that we Loroi are capable of creating entities such as you.” Parat Tempo sent at that.

“Loroi are too limited as they are now and there are simply not enough of us, they first awoke their networks after more than a dozen billions of them cooperated.” Pallan Fireblade replied.

“Exactly! You cannot awake them as you are now but they are sleeping and dreaming; and those are not nice dreams that you are providing them with.” Death added.

“But they shouldn’t be affecting us like he warned. You weren’t able to affect humans when you slumbered.” Tempo pointed out.

“Because humans shut themselves off telepathically most of the time. You Loroi wouldn’t do that even if you were able to do it. You leave yourselves open to those who slumber and you make them see all kinds of dreams. Who knows what they would do if they were awakened as you are now. Maybe they would have you kill each other, maybe they would like to dominate and control the lesser races or maybe they would want to somehow get hair of their own.” Death replied. “Thinking of it maybe you should take into account the hair thing when you build their bodies, I think that they will like it.”

They all looked at each other and then at the alien who just shrugged without sending anything.“It seems that humans don’t want us to follow either of these paths of Ascension.” Stillstorm pointed out.

“Humans don’t want many things, especially the things that they will have to do should your kind become a danger to everything around you. They will not like it, they will curse themselves for it but they will do everything that they will have to do.”“Is this why some contemplate of shutting down our telepathy like the Soians did to them?” Tempo pointed out.

“That proposal has been thoroughly defeated and is no longer an option but there are many reasons as to why it was considered. Locking you like the Soians locked Humanity would indeed keep both you and those around you safe from yourselves and would allow for you Loroi to Ascend in the exact same way humans did but you would no longer be Loroi if they did that to you. They would tolerate the instability that the fall of the Union would cause; they would still defend your kind against other Ascendant and even other lesser races but the very idea that you wouldn’t be Loroi anymore was what they couldn’t tolerate. Make no mistake, there were many who found perverse sadistic joy when thinking about this proposal but they didn’t matter at all in the discussion. What mattered was everything that makes you what you are and if that should be destroyed in order to save you; it’s as stupid as it sounds and it has been thoroughly defeated.”“Why is it so important to them? By your descriptions common logic dictates that we are a tangible threat to humanity if we Awaken our networks. You have confirmed that you don’t expect them to be sane and we witnessed what you are capable of doing. It doesn’t make sense.” The Mizol insisted.“Humanity doesn’t make sense, never did and never will.” Death stated as a matter of fact. “It must be your own path and your own decisions, whatever may come to pass it must be yours alone. Looking at their history it seems ridiculous to consider that out of all the ascendants that humans would be the ones who would detest dictating and enforcing a false order onto the lesser races. Each and every last one of them thinks that they know better and that their proposals are the right thing to do, give an individual human enough power and they will mess things up for the lesser races just like the other Ascendants have done. As a collective however, where no individual is above reproach, then they realize that they don’t know anything; that all the ideas they may have about how things should be are just illusions when compared to the greatness that the infinity of the universe is capable of bringing forth. They have realized that the only thing of importance that they know about the universe is that fools who think they know best don’t know anything. The universe will bring what may and the lesser races shall ascend or die on their own. No ascendant shall be allowed to interfere to any lesser race around us; I and all of my siblings will make sure of this.” Once again they sensed Death abandon its playfulness, this time replacing it with an absolute resolve about what it… they intended to do.“Yet you are interfering for our sake.” Tozet Beryl pointed out.“It could be because humans are hypocrites.” Death’s playfulness returned once more at that. “Or it could be because all rules have their rare exceptions. What do you four think?”“He has said that honor demands all this of them.” Stillstorm sent.“Indeed… their intangible sense of honor demands this much and more of them but why do you think this is?”

“Our ancestors destroyed the Soians to avenge the wrongs that was inflicted on their kind.” Stillstorm replied without really thinking about it.“That’s part of it.” Death admitted.“The Tempests, the human females that birthed us; at least one of them sent everything she knew to the future for us to find but humans have benefited from it. Do they feel obligated to share this with us?” The Mizol asked.“Yes they do and that is another part of it but neither of these parts are the important one.”“They wanted what is best for us.” Beryl begun after some thought. “The Tempests that is, for us to find our own independent way. That was their plea to us, their children. Humans feel obligated to give us one more chance to do just that.”“Now I understand why The Pale Horse chose you.” Death replied. “The Soians may have created your flesh but the ones who birthed you and created what you are were humans. It would be uncharacteristic of them not to feel at least partially responsible for you and your actions. You Loroi will get your chance to Ascend on your own, the assistance that you will be provided with will be given in order to ensure this.”“You done?” The alien finally asked after a few moments of idleness.“I don’t know, am I?”“You four now know far more than I was willing to reveal but what is done is done…” He begun.“You should have done a better job at convincing them, perhaps you should have tried being nice and gentle; they are females after all.” Death cut in but the alien just ignored it.“Will you four cooperate or will we have to find others?” Stillstorm sensed the other three focusing themselves on her, all of them were waiting for her answer before making up their mind, even Fireblade who for all intents and purposes stood far above them in abilities and perceptiveness as she was now.“I agree…” Stillstorm replied after putting some thought into it. “On one condition.”

Last edited by dragoongfa on Mon Apr 09, 2018 1:17 pm, edited 6 times in total.

Sun Feb 11, 2018 2:34 pm

dragoongfa

Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 2:00 pmPosts: 1175Location: Athens, Greece

Re: [Fan Fiction] The pale horse (Updated: 02/11/2018)

That's the end of Chapter 6 and the next few entries should be considered as an extended epilogue.

I really hated writing this Chapter, I wanted to make the first part intentionally 'hard' to follow but not too hard but it seems that I failed at that. I hope that the second part adequately explains some things.